episode_0075

Still, I was able to spend the afternoon feeling somewhat refreshed.

I feel like about half of my worries have been resolved. Through meditation, I have found a way to quickly recover from fatigue, and the problem in the North has been resolved to some extent. And I have been able to make a clear impression on the people around me about my abilities.

The fact that I was caught being emotional by Mia Crowfield may have been diluted a lot by this incident. In any case, it showed that I alone can inflict serious damage on the enemy.

Perhaps, this could also be a warning to Countess Crowfield, who is probably dreaming of revenge against the Emperor by now. In the original, Claire transferred during her first year, not at the beginning of the school year, and since she was not as overtly active as I was, Crowfield took it lightly to some extent.

Well, at that time, I didn’t do anything like blowing up the Count with a bomb.

There’s a huge difference between dealing with assassins and dealing with human weapons that can shred entire units of enemies.

“… … .”

I can understand why Mia Crowfield is glancing at me.

Because of that, it seems like it’s become more difficult to become close.

“Sister!”

… … And there was another person whose attitude toward me changed.

I thought that since I had returned after performing at the level of a human weapon, there would be a ton of people who would treat me more harshly, but Claire actually treated me more openly.

It seems that what he said earlier, ‘I did it because I wanted to’, was a big deal. He didn’t even say why he wanted to do it, and the task wasn’t actually about eating or taking anything, but rather crushing a group of mercenaries and returning, but the act itself didn’t seem to be a problem to Claire.

Rather, it seemed like he was convinced that I still had real feelings for him.

“Claire.”

“I know, I know! But this is outside, not the academy!”

Before I could say anything, Claire struck me with her words and patted my arm.

… … Even though it is outside the academy, the work that is being done is considered practical training that counts towards the attendance days.

Besides, we’re wearing school uniforms right now. It’s just that we’re not in the academy building, but in reality, it’s no different than being in the academy.

“But Claire has been calling Sylvia “sister” ever since. Do you know why?”

Claire was walking on my left, and Alice was walking on my right. It made me feel strangely uneasy. They were both like sisters to me.

Well, I don’t think we were exactly ‘sisters’ when we lived together… … But, when you’re next to each other, don’t you feel that kind of feeling little by little? Claire followed me in those situations, and Alice was by my side for a long time, so I think I feel that way about both of them.

“Oh, that.”

Claire, hearing Alice’s words, spoke with a confident expression.

“Sylvia has a strangely older sister vibe, doesn’t she? I had a younger brother, but I didn’t have an older sister. So I just decided to call Sylvia “older sister.” ”

“… … .”

When I glanced back, I saw Leo staring at the back of Claire’s head with an expression of bewilderment. For a moment, I almost burst out laughing. That might have been because he called me “sister,” but more than that, it was Claire’s expression that seemed to be bewilderment at him calling me his little brother.

“… … For that reason?”

Alice, who had been leaning her head forward and looking at Claire next to me, turned her gaze to my face.

No matter how I look at it, it seems like he doesn’t believe Claire’s words at all.

“… … .”

I looked at Claire without saying anything, but Claire just looked away and pretended not to know.

Come to think of it, I didn’t just start calling you “sister”, I’ve been subtly calling you “sister” for a while now.

No, well… … I don’t feel as uncomfortable or offended as I thought, but if you call me that in this situation, I’ll be in trouble.

“… … I will explain it separately later.”

I spoke quietly to Alice.

“… … Okay.”

When I said that, Alice didn’t ask any more questions. Alice trusted me, even if it wasn’t for anyone else.

Charlotte, who was near Alice and could hear my small voice, seemed interested in what I was saying and showed an interested expression, but she didn’t think it was royal behavior to pry out secrets, so she didn’t bother to get involved.

Jake just didn’t seem to have much on his mind. Looking around here and there, it seemed like he had no interest in this area at all… … But that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down.

In the original, this bustling atmosphere wasn’t really there. The lines that the characters say were set, and because of the limited manpower, unless they were a central character who absolutely had to say something during an event, the ‘changeable party members’ would kind of become the air of the event. Since there was no script for the lines in the first place, even if they did appear in a cutscene, they would just stand in the back blankly.

And usually, the only characters that roam around the field are the ones set by the player as their representative, and occasionally, one or two people follow them around for events. Even though they are all set to walk around together, in my eyes, only one character is expressed.

So, it felt a little strange to see it so crowded.

But at the same time, it was a little fun. Even though the game seemed a little awkward, seeing my friends listen to my conversations and react reminded me of when I used to hang out with my friends in high school.

“Okay, then.”

Claire said, stretching loudly.

“Then let’s work hard in the afternoon too! We’ll be back tomorrow.”

“… … When I go back, will I go straight back to class on Monday?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

At Claire’s words, Miak Crowfield asked as if she was worried, and Charlotte answered as if it was natural. At Charlotte’s words, Miak Crowfield slumped her shoulders.

Tomorrow, I will practice until the morning and then return to the academy by train. However, this place is quite far from Rondarium, so I will have to stay on the train for several hours. The interior is spacious and comfortable, but it does not provide a bed, so I will still have to sit on a chair for several hours.

It must be hard to believe that classes start the next day without even having time to recover from the stress.

… … I plan to take a few turns during the night to rest.

Still, seeing him conversing so naturally with the children of Mia Crowfield, it seemed like going to do the request together this morning was worth it. It seemed like they had become quite close in the meantime.

The blue Marmalade was still shining on the staff held by Mia Crowfield.

*

“Great.”

Jennifer said with a genuinely surprised expression.

There wasn’t as much work to do in the afternoon as I thought. Since the main characters had finished most of the requests in the morning, the kids woke up late—of course, it wasn’t that late in terms of time, but relatively late anyway—and rushed into the request office, so there weren’t many requests left until the afternoon.

And in the original work, this was also the trigger that revealed the hidden quest.

If you complete all the morning sub-quests, an event will appear saying ‘There is time left’ after completing all the afternoon quests. However, completing all the morning quests does not reduce the number of afternoon sub-quests.

By the way, if you haven’t finished all of the morning sub-quests, you will waste time doing other things besides the ones marked as sub-quests, so the conversation scene with Jennifer will not appear.

Anyway, before the afternoon went by, Jennifer said to the group that had just finished work—

“I guess I have a lot of time left today. There’s still a lot of time left until dinner time.”

—You’re making me laugh by saying that.

“Yes, that’s right.”

When Leo nodded, Jennifer thought for a moment, saying, “hmm.”.

“Then, wouldn’t you like to try a pretty plausible challenge during your remaining time?”

And I asked back.

“Challenge… … is that what you mean?”

At Leo’s words, Jennifer nodded with a mischievous smile on her face.

“Yeah. If it works, it could be a huge help to you. Well, it’s a little short considering the time.”

“… … .”

The children looked at each other. There was interest in their gaze.

In fact, Jennifer’s story was half-joking and half-serious, half to surprise her teacher and half to reward her students who she really liked.

In addition, I was watching Leo closely, who had properly inherited Grace’s swordsmanship.

At least they thought he had talent.

“Are you interested in listening?”

As the children who had been looking at each other nodded, Jennifer opened her mouth with a smile.

“Then—”